World of Spectrum....

[Whacker]

permanent site logins to access all material,m (API keys), and of course IP banning is a good one...

I registered late november to find my IP was blocked 24hrs after (without a first post made) to the live.worldofspectrum.co.uk subdomain, one that's still inforce as of today. Pity really..

Of course if this is just a server hiccup, and nothing to do with my association to a Mr Andrews or Mr Cropper then I would withdraw my concerns...

[fogartylee]

Lovely to see peoples opinions here.

Just for clarity, when I put the mags back on, I was slated because the page load time was too long with an issue being an average of 70mb. So, I reduced the thumbnails and made browsing quicker and easier. On SC, the thumbnails are actually the full size images so still 70mb page size. I see no complaints about that.

But for further clarity, I also offered to write the javascript needed to access the WoS magazines API and display the thumbnails correctly, and ultimately by default have access to the hi-res pages without needing any additional work. Strangely that offer was ignored by the team here with no explanation. A hell of a lot of work has gone into the mags as they were never initially indexed, and there were pages missing, incorrect, etc - that has all been done (I do know there are still some problems we are looking at)

And for those that don't like how the new site looks? That's the whole point of the data and files being accessible to everyone. If you don't like the site, use the API and create your own!

[balford]

It is nice to see people's opinions here, and even nicer that people are allowed to express them freely

[fogartylee]

permanent site logins to access all material,m (API keys), and of course IP banning is a good one...

I registered late november to find my IP was blocked 24hrs after (without a first post made) to the live.worldofspectrum.co.uk subdomain, one that's still inforce as of today. Pity really..

Of course if this is just a server hiccup, and nothing to do with my association to a Mr Andrews or Mr Cropper then I would withdraw my concerns...

There is a bug in the anti-leeching script. Nobody is banned by IP unless they leech (and the bug will be fixed this evening).

Where have you got the idea you need a site login to access data? The forums are separate entirely to the rest of the site, so there's no way you've registered on the "live" domain because no option exists.

[Mike Davies]

The only part we still risk loosing, if WoS goes down, is all the forum history.

I have that covered: the whole publicly-visible forum as an archive of JSON documents. If WoS does then disappear, we can curate the useful information out of it and make it Google-searchable.

[R-Tape]

But for further clarity, I also offered to write the javascript needed to access the WoS magazines API and display the thumbnails correctly, and ultimately by default have access to the hi-res pages without needing any additional work. Strangely that offer was ignored by the team here with no explanation.

I had a feeling you'd be itching to publicly mention this.

It's not that strange, you haven't exactly been receptive to SC or ZXDB over at WoS (the SC thread you locked for no good reason still has the padlock on it by the way).

I gave my opinion on this to Peter and Ricardo - I didn't want to work with you. They had site specific reasons why, we're still working on magazines, and basically we wanted to go our own way. I don't know if Peter replied or not (he's not around tonight) but he probably should have. If you wrote to me my answer would have been 'thanks but no thanks'.

[Whacker]

permanent site logins to access all material,m (API keys), and of course IP banning is a good one...

I registered late november to find my IP was blocked 24hrs after (without a first post made) to the live.worldofspectrum.co.uk subdomain, one that's still inforce as of today. Pity really..

Of course if this is just a server hiccup, and nothing to do with my association to a Mr Andrews or Mr Cropper then I would withdraw my concerns...

There is a bug in the anti-leeching script. Nobody is banned by IP unless they leech (and the bug will be fixed this evening).

Where have you got the idea you need a site login to access data? The forums are separate entirely to the rest of the site, so there's no way you've registered on the "live" domain because no option exists.

I'll take that then that from midnight tonight, I'll be able to see live.worldofspectrum.org if I type it in my browser (oddly typing in www.creativespectrum.co.uk performs the same result too.....)

[fogartylee]

I'm not even sure if you're being serious now.

[PeterJ]

Evening all,

I don't use Facebook Messenger much, but can confirm before Christmas I got a message from Lee offering our site an API key. I don't recall any offers of development though, but can go back and check if needed. I recall thanking Lee for the offer, and said I would check with the development team. As Dave says, the developers discussed it and we decided not to use the API. I had it on my list to reply to Lee, but have not done yet for which apologies are due.

[Whacker]

I'm not even sure if you're being serious now.

Sadly, I am.. but I think the easiest way to resolve is just to renew the IP after the next lease expiry. It doesn't solve the issue of IP blocking on the site (which is a pity) but it gives me a work around to re-access.

Still commend the work your doing on the site Lee, don't get me wrong, it's just I have concerns that the archive is becoming more walled in with each site sharing information via ZXDB, with WoS fighting against the ever increasing change...

[fogartylee]

You do know the URL you posted is wrong?

I *think* I've fixed the leeching bug. I'm sure someone will let me know if I haven't....

The access to WoS data is far more & a lot easier than it was before. If anything, the walls are being knocked down.

[RMartins]

After my ban from WOS was included in this thread, I feel obliged to share the facts I know.
I did not want to get back to this subject, but I treasure transparency.

1 - My ban from WOS was due to a comment I made in the IndieGogo - ZX Spectrum Vega+
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the- ... #/comments

If you go throught a lot of clicking on "show more" link, you will eventually get there ("Rui Martins" is my username in indieGogo), since there is no search feature unfortunately.

Spoiler

I stand by what I wrote, as a "wake up call"/warning, since I have known of worse happening for a lot less.
Today, I would write it in a different wording, since I have since realized it can be read in a different tone/context.

2 - I was banned on WOS because I had a similar username, on both websites.
There was no evidence that IndieGogo "Rui Martins", was in fact WOS "RMartins", since IndieGogo supposedly does not share the emails of it's users.

3 - I did not receive any feeback or warning that I was banned.
I got to know about it by a friend (I was busy with health issues in my family, so ZX surfing was low priority).

4 - I also seem to be the first user in WOS that had it's Avatar changed to an image with "User banned - Carry on".
Why ?
Your guess is as good as mine.


So, with the information provided above, take your own conclusions.

[5MinuteRetro]

Just for clarity...

I'm all for that. I think all of us here are, which is why we're here. So, just for clarity, why *exactly* - and with clarity - were mentions of Spectrum Computing and ZXDB banned from WoS? The reasons expressed at the time on WoS were neither exact nor clear. At least, not so I saw: I abandoned the listing WoS ship at precisely this point. So yeah, I'd love some clarity.

[fogartylee]

The admins at the time had also spent (along with Martijn) some considerable time helping Einar create ZXDB. They had all expressed disappointment with his actions following our help which - as we were told - was to help WoS, whereas it seemed afterwards the intentions were very different.

And as said on WoS - those actions weren't agreed by me, and the end result was that they have all left the role to concentrate on helping WoS with the database info instead.

As an aside, I have since also gone against the admins votes by offering to assist ZXDB further which has been rejected. So sometimes they are right and sometimes they were wrong. It happens - there is a new team of admins now.

[5MinuteRetro]

The admins at the time had also spent (along with Martijn) some considerable time helping Einar create ZXDB. They had all expressed disappointment with his actions following our help which - as we were told - was to help WoS, whereas it seemed afterwards the intentions were very different.

And as said on WoS - those actions weren't agreed by me, and the end result was that they have all left the role to concentrate on helping WoS with the database info instead.

As an aside, I have since also gone against the admins votes by offering to assist ZXDB further which has been rejected. So sometimes they are right and sometimes they were wrong. It happens - there is a new team of admins now.

Was that a reply to my above comment? If so, still seeking exactness and clarity. If not, still waiting.

[ADJB]

The admins at the time had also spent (along with Martijn) some considerable time helping Einar create ZXDB.

When was "the time" that time was spent by the admins and Martijn helping Einar?

[fogartylee]

The admins at the time had also spent (along with Martijn) some considerable time helping Einar create ZXDB.

When was "the time" that time was spent by the admins and Martijn helping Einar?

There's been a FB group chat around for a year. It was started when the core admin scripts were completed and we were ready to start working on individual sections. Einar joined around February or March - at which point we had already started uploading tables & CSV files of the output to be checked.

[Rorthron]

The admins at the time had also spent (along with Martijn) some considerable time helping Einar create ZXDB. They had all expressed disappointment with his actions following our help which - as we were told - was to help WoS, whereas it seemed afterwards the intentions were very different.

I am somewhat bemused by this account.

In case you have forgotten, Lee, the reason why Einar started the ZXDB project was because you quit WoS ("Had enough", July 2016). In that thread you explicitly stated that you wanted someone else to take over and you explicitly offered to help anyone who was willing to do so. All Einar did was to respond to your request and take on responsibilities you had decided to abandon.

When you changed your mind and decided to hang around, Einar continued to offer his help to you, but you repeatedly and often quite rudely spurned his efforts.

Your characterisation of Einar's actions and motives is quite at odds with the facts.

Moreover, I find it interesting that you have confirmed what we suspected all along, that the moves to censor mentions of ZXDB and Spectrum Computing were done out of spite and with no purpose other than to harm another Spectrum website (one which was not even involved in your dispute!).

And as said on WoS - those actions weren't agreed by me.

Yet you still keep the Spectrum Computing update thread on WoS locked.

As an aside, I have since also gone against the admins votes by offering to assist ZXDB further which has been rejected. So sometimes they are right and sometimes they were wrong. It happens - there is a new team of admins now.

Just what are you trying to say here? Are you now suggesting you think it was right, after all, to censor and block mentions of another Spectrum website? Or are you conceding the WoS admin team was wrong? And what does SC's decision not to accept your offer have to do with it?

[fogartylee]

Unless you have access to the FB admins group then you have no idea of what discussions happened or didn't happen. I was warned by several people in advance that it would be a mistake to aid Einar but chose to ignore the warnings.

[balford]

Quite interesting that Richard, Gerard and David have been thrown under the bus as far as WoS moderation goes. Funnily enough whilst I don't always agree with them I've found them somewhat more approachable than the admin who purports to be acting in the site's best interests...

[Rorthron]

Unless you have access to the FB admins group then you have no idea of what discussions happened or didn't happen.

There was extensive public discussion of this matter in the WoS forums, during which you had every opportunity to raise any relevant matters.

I was warned by several people in advance that it would be a mistake to aid Einar but chose to ignore the warnings.

So do you now consider the creation of ZXDB "a mistake"? If so, why?

You seem to have made no reponse on my other points.

[fogartylee]

Martijn was working 35hrs a week on top of a full time job because he was the only one that could update the database and move the files. Most of the holidays he took to catch up on infoseek updates, and when he did go away there was often server problems. Added to that, many years ago he wanted to close the forums because they were more hassle than they were worth. At that point he practically left the forums and handed over admin to me, and we took on new moderators.

So, when he announced privately he was leaving, it was decided it would no longer be a one-man job. A system has been put into place that means anyone can be added to the team and maintain their own part of the site without worrying about breaking other parts or losing data. Files can be maintained without the need for FTP, etc...

It was also known to people working on the data and testing the scripts that the database would be rapidly increasing with a lot more information. It's not practical to use ZXDB with that amount of data - or any site via SQL statements. I can't remember the last time I looked at the new WoS database because it's created by the system as we add new modules, and with correct permissions in the admin can have new fields added or existing ones changed as needed. Einar also knew this, so when he was publicly asking for the database schema, he knew full well those modules hadn't been completed yet, and therefore there was no schema.

What you have now is exactly where Martijn was - one person performing updates, and to update the website you need to run the SQL statements. That's fine. But Einar always stated that once WoS is finished he has no intention of keeping ZXDB going. Has that changed? Who is taking over? And again you have one person maintaining the data - and in this case several sites.

What happens if archive.org receive copyright complaints? Will they argue their case, or disable the WoS files? Files which they are happy to advertise as WoS backup without actually having permission to host them. Are they going to spend hours on the phone speaking to copyright holders, or visiting them personally, as I have done? I doubt it.

[balford]

May I be the first to call 'Bollocks'.

Really Lee, you're insulting people's intelligence here.

You're a chancer, spoofer, and whatever other adjective suits a person who takes on a project way above their capability level.

The best thing you could do is to hand over WoS to a more capable team of people who can do it justice. However, your ego won't let you do that.

[RMartins]

If you @fogartylee are able to step out of your own private world, that virtual shell you live in, and take an honest look of all you have been writing, you might be surprised of how it sounds like.

Click on "number of posts" link, on the right, of one of your messages.
Your first message on this forum, was an attack ... and all others followed the same pattern.

You keep on attacking people, always pledging for the injustice, the betrayal of your poor working righteous self, like if the world is against you.
It's the other way around, you are going against the world!

Your actions, and toxic/oppressive behaviour, led to this.
You were living an illusion, the dream ended.

The community does not want to abandon, WOS.
The vast majority just came to the conclusion that we do not want to participate in WOS with you at the helm.

The problem is not WOS, it's the "type of management" being enforced in WOS.

So you replaced the Admins/moderators ... sure, that solves the problem, right ?
Is that why you are here attacking the people you blame of your misfortune ?

Notice that I wrote "your" and not WOS misfortune.
You take this too personaly.

No one, is rejecting, that somewhere in time, you were useful to the preservation of the community, and that you eventually contributed in a positive way, in the past. But it's just not true anymore.

If you think this through, what is your goal, with these bursts of accusations/comments ?

Are you expecting us to go back to WOS, with you as admin ?
Are you trying to convince us you are not responsible for the toxic/oppressing place WOS forum as become ?

You have to learn to let go, to know when you have failed, to admit it to yourself (not to us), and move on.

You wanted to leave.
So why did you stay ?
What kept you as admin ?

You seriously need professional help, to manage your insecurities and lack of purpose, if you are not WOS admin.
Because this is all it boils down to.

You feel abandoned by the community.
When in fact, it was you who ostracized the community ...

Hopefully this message will ground you to hearth again, and make you rethink your life.

I wish I could help you, but I don't know how.

[R-Tape]

May I be the first to call 'Bollocks'.

Really Lee, you're insulting people's intelligence here.

You're a chancer, spoofer, and whatever other adjective suits a person who takes on a project way above their capability level.

The best thing you could do is to hand over WoS to a more capable team of people who can do it justice. However, your ego won't let you do that.

Just in case things are hotting up. While I'm flabbergasted by some of his posts can we be sure we don't resort to insults. Don't give anyone a reason to hit the report post button.